Recent NIH Biosketches for applicant and his/her mentoring team, including all sources of current extramural funding (must include applicant’s/mentor’s role, dates of support, % effort and % salary support)

Letter from department chair with commitment to: (1) protect 75% of scholar’s time for BIRCWH, (2) provide benefits, and (3) supplement scholar’s salary if 75% of base salary is greater than $75,000. This letter should be co-signed by division chief, if applicable, and should indicate provision of space needed to complete project

Letter from chair or division chief, assessing applicant’s potential

Explanation of how applicant’s effort will be adjusted to comply with the 75% BIRCWH research effort requirement (i.e., detail % effort on other grants, as well as clinical and teaching time)

Letter from mentors: Because this is a program of mentored multidisciplinary clinical research, the letters need to convey the mentor’s enthusiasm for the candidate and describe the proposed meetings and interactions between the mentor and the mentee. Therefore, considerable attention should be paid to the requirements for the mentors’ letter:

The candidate will need to identify two mentors from distinctly different disciplines, each of whom will contribute to the applicant’s program of research and training.

The mentors’ letter is to be jointly authored and cosigned by the 2 mentors. This letter must make clear how the disciplinary expertise of each mentor will contribute to the candidate’s research and training plans. It should describe how the two mentors plan to work together with the applicant and what each will contribute to the applicant’s research and training.

The mentors’ letter must provide evidence of familiarity with the candidate’s research and educational/training program. Ideally, the mentors will guide the candidate in the development of the research proposal to be submitted as part of this application. The mentors’ letter should describe their degree of involvement in the preparation of the application.

The mentors’ letter should also describe specific plans for the frequency of contact between the mentors and the applicant and identify expectations for candidate productivity (i.e. expectations regarding manuscripts, submission of applications for extramural funding, etc.) They should indicate a willingness to complete the required semi-annual documentation of the Scholar’s progress and participate in seminars with the other Scholars and their mentors.

Finally, each mentor should describe their experience with mentoring and provide a table identifying prior mentees, their current positions, and any evidence of their mentees’ research productivity.